CN111728014B

CN111728014B - Device and method for obtaining meat from poultry thighs

Info

Publication number: CN111728014B
Application number: CN202010188656.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 埃里克·阿德里安·范希洛; 巴斯·内格尔
Original assignee: Meyn Food Processing Technology BV
Current assignee: Meyn Food Processing Technology BV
Priority date: 2019-03-25
Filing date: 2020-03-17
Publication date: 2021-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-17
Also published as: CN111728014A; NL2022799B1; EP3714697A1; RU2741083C1; US20200305449A1; JP2020156478A; KR20200116046A; JP6949164B2; MX2020003288A; BR102020005827A2; KR102434854B1; US11109598B2

Abstract

Apparatus and method for obtaining meat from the thighs of poultry in a processing line, which processing line is provided with a support for the legs of the poultry, wherein each rack is arranged to transport poultry legs suspended by ankles, said poultry legs comprising lower poultry leg meat, knee joints and thighs of the poultry with the thighs, and the apparatus comprises a cutter for cutting the poultry legs, and a scraper for scraping the meat of the poultry legs from the thigh bones, wherein the scraper blades of the apparatus are configured to grip the poultry legs near the ankles and fix the ankles in position, and the cutter is configured to cut a first knife over the poultry leg while the scraper grips the poultry leg, wherein the cutter is configured to provide a first blade adjacent to the scraper and below the knee joint at a joint level of the femur closest to the knee joint, thereby severing a tendon connecting the thigh meat and the femur.

Description

Device and method for obtaining meat from poultry thighs

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for obtaining meat from the thighs of poultry.

Background

EP-B-3157344 discloses an apparatus and a method for obtaining meat from poultry's thighs in a processing line equipped with racks for the poultry's legs, wherein each rack is arranged to convey the poultry's legs suspended by ankles, said legs comprising the lower poultry leg meat, knee joints and poultry's thighs with the thighs. This known device comprises a cutter for cutting the poultry's legs, in particular the knee joint, and a scraper for scraping the meat of the poultry's thighs from the thighbone. For this purpose, the device of EP-B-3157344 further employs a pusher for pushing the femur out of the thigh of the poultry through the hole of the scraper. It is therefore absolutely necessary to provide a cut in the knee joint, since this enables the poultry legs to be bent, after which the step of extracting the bones from the poultry thighs can be carried out. In summary, the known apparatus is a rather complex machine, which is exemplified by the extensive text of patent document E P-B-3157344.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a less complex apparatus and method for obtaining meat from the thighs of poultry.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus and method which provides high yields of high quality meat.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method suitable for use in high speed processing lines.

These objects and other objects and advantages are achieved by the apparatus and method according to the present invention.

US 9,326,527B 2 discloses an apparatus and a method for obtaining meat from the thighs of poultry in a processing line equipped with racks for the legs of the poultry, wherein each rack is arranged to convey the legs of the poultry suspended by ankles, said legs comprising the lower poultry leg meat, knee joints and thighs of the poultry with the thighs. Such a device comprises a cutter for cutting the poultry leg, in particular the knee joint, and a scraper for scraping the meat of the poultry leg from the thigh bone. In the known method and apparatus, the poultry legs are clamped near the knee joint to fix the knee joint in position and, when the poultry legs are clamped in position, a first knife is cut on the poultry legs, wherein this knife cuts below the knee joint at the level of the joint of the thigh bone on the side of the knee joint, thereby cutting the tendon connecting the thigh meat and the thigh bone. Further, the scraper blade has at least two scraping modes, including a first scraping mode and a second scraping mode, wherein the first scraping mode is arranged to be performed on the femur below the knee joint, the initial scraping mode extending over a predetermined portion of the poultry thigh below the knee joint, the predetermined portion being kept at a distance from the hip joint of the femur.

According to the invention, the scraper is arranged to perform an initial scraping mode after releasing the gripping mode on the poultry's legs.

The cutter is preferably a circumferential cutter so that the cut approximates a circular cut around the poultry leg. This facilitates subsequent access to the thigh meat of the poultry.

The apparatus is also preferably equipped with a peeler. Advantageously the peeler is arranged to start after cutting a first knife on the poultry leg below the knee joint at the level of the joint of the femur on one side of the knee joint.

It is also preferred that the cutter is arranged to cut the second knife off the leg of the poultry near the scraper at a predetermined distance from the knee joint. It is essential that the second knife cutting the poultry leg located at a predetermined distance from the knee joint is located at a greater distance from the knee joint than the first knife.

The second knife is preferably cut after the initial scraping pattern is completed, wherein the second knife is cut near the scraper farther from the femoral hip joint, i.e. in the final position reached after the initial scraping pattern has been completed on a predetermined part of the poultry thigh.

The thigh meat is preferably shaved over the entire length of the femur in the second shaving mode, and the opening operation is preferably performed after cutting off the second knife.

It is advantageous that the shaver is arranged to be moved to a position near the knee joint before the second shaving mode of the shaver is performed.

After the second scraping mode is completed, the meat scraped from the femur is cut.

The apparatus of the invention is therefore preferably implemented such that the second shaving mode of the blade is set to operate after the first shaving mode.

Furthermore, it is preferred that the scraper is arranged to perform the second scraping mode of the scraper after the cutter has cut the second knife over the poultry leg.

Suitably, the scraper is arranged to scrape the thigh meat over the entire length of the thigh bone in the second scraping mode.

Suitably, the cutter of the apparatus or another knife of the apparatus is arranged to cut meat scraped from the femur.

Drawings

The invention will be further explained below with reference to the drawings of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the device according to the invention and its method of use.

In the drawings of fig. 1-9, subsequent steps of the method of the invention will be described as being performed in conjunction with a preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, in which:

figures 1A and 1B show a side view and a top view, respectively, of the apparatus of the invention;

figures 2A-2C show top views of the apparatus of the invention in subsequent operating steps shown;

figure 3 shows a peeler of the device of the invention;

figure 4 shows the initial scraping mode of the apparatus of the invention;

figures 5A and 5B show a side view and a top view, respectively, of a second shaving mode of the apparatus of the invention;

figures 6 and 7 show the doctor blade opening and upward movement, respectively, of the device of the invention;

figure 8 shows the final scraping operation of the doctor blade of the device of the invention; and

figure 9 shows the cutting of the meat scraped from the thigh bone with the device of the invention.

List of reference numerals

1. Device

2. Meat

3. Thigh-3' of poultry

4. Processing line

5. Support frame

6. Poultry legs

7. Ankle joint

8. Lower poultry leg meat

9. Knee joint

10. Cutter

11. Scraping knife

12. Peeling device

13. Hip joint

14. And (4) cutting.

Detailed Description

The same reference numerals are used in the drawings each time, and they denote the same parts.

Referring first to fig. 1A, there is shown an apparatus 1 for taking meat 2 from the thighs 3 of poultry in a processing line 4, which processing line 4 is equipped with brackets 5 for the legs 6 of the poultry, wherein each bracket 5 is arranged to transport the legs 6 of the poultry suspended by means of ankles 7. The poultry legs 6 comprise lower poultry leg meat 8, knee joints 9 and poultry thighs 3 with thighs 3' (such as the thighs visible in fig. 4).

Fig. 1B shows that the apparatus 1 comprises a cutter 10 for cutting the poultry legs 6 and a scraper 11 for scraping the meat 2 of the poultry legs from the thigh bones 3'. The cutter 10 is preferably arranged to make a complete or almost complete circumferential cut of the poultry's legs 6.

The device 1 may be provided with a separate clamp, but this embodiment is not shown. In the embodiment shown (instead of a separate clamp), the scraper 11 of the apparatus 1 is arranged to clamp the poultry leg 6 (see fig. 1A and 2A) in a position close to its knee joint 9, thereby fixing the knee joint 9 in position. Fig. 2B and 2C show the cutting operation after the poultry legs 6 have been gripped, wherein the cutter 10 is arranged to continue to cut a first knife on the poultry legs 6 while the scraper 11 grips the poultry legs 6 and holds them in place. The cutter 10 is configured to provide a first knife adjacent to the scraper 11 and lower than the knee joint 9 at the level of the joint of the femur 3' of the knee joint 9, which is located at the side of the knee joint 9, so as to cut off the tendon connecting the meat 2 and the femur.

Fig. 3 shows that the device 1 is also equipped with a peeler 12. As explained above with reference to fig. 2B and 2C, the peeler 12 is arranged to start operating after the cutter 10 has cut a first knife in the poultry's leg 6 below the knee joint 9 at the level of the joint of the femur on one side of the knee joint.

Fig. 4 shows that after skinning the scraper 11 starts to perform a first scraping mode, which is performed at the femur 3 'below the knee joint 9 and which extends at a predetermined portion of the poultry thigh 3 below the knee joint 9, wherein the scraping mode is performed at a distance to the hip joint 13 of the femur 3'. When a separate clamp is used in addition to the doctor blade 11, the clamp remains in position, however in the shown embodiment the doctor blade 11 is used as a clamp. In this case the scraper 11 is preferably arranged to perform an initial scraping mode after releasing the gripping operation on the poultry leg 6.

Fig. 5A and 5B show a side view and a top view, respectively, of the cutter 10 being arranged to cut off the second knife from the poultry's leg 6 near the scraper 11 at a predetermined distance from the knee joint 9. In the illustrated embodiment, the cutter 10 is configured to cut off a second blade (shown in FIG. 4) after the initial scraping mode of the scraper blade 11 is completed. The second blade is cut off near the scraper blade 11, which reaches the final position further from the hip joint 13 of the femur 3', after the scraper blade 11 completes the initial scraping pattern for the predetermined portion of the poultry thigh.

As shown in fig. 5A and 5B, the scraper 11 is also implemented with a second scraping mode, which is set to operate after the first scraping mode and after the cutter 10 has cut the second knife off the poultry leg 6. The scraper blades are then arranged to open and then loosen the poultry legs 6 as shown in fig. 6, and subsequently moved upwards according to arrow a to a position near the knee joint 9 before the scraper blades 11 perform the second scraping mode as shown in fig. 7. Fig. 8 then shows the final scraping mode, in which the scraper 11 is arranged to cut off thigh bone flesh over the entire length of the thigh bone 3' in the second scraping mode.

Finally fig. 9 shows that after the final scraping mode according to fig. 8 has been completed, the knife 14 of the device 1 is arranged to cut off the meat cut from the femur 3'. The operation of cutting off the meat after completion of the scraping operation may also be performed with the cutter 10.

Although the present invention has been discussed above with reference to exemplary embodiments of the method and apparatus of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to this particular embodiment, which may be varied in various ways without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments discussed should not be used to construe the appended claims. Rather, the present embodiments are intended only to interpret the wording of the appended claims and are not intended to limit the claims to this exemplary embodiment. The scope of protection of the invention should therefore be interpreted solely in accordance with the appended claims, wherein ambiguities that may exist in the wording of the claims should be interpreted using this exemplary embodiment.

Features of the invention may be listed item by item in the following numbered order.

1. An apparatus (1) for obtaining meat (2) from poultry's thighs (3) in a processing line (4), which processing line (4) is equipped with supports (5) for the poultry's legs (6), wherein each support (5) is arranged to convey the poultry's legs (6) suspended by means of ankles (7), which poultry' legs (6) comprise a lower poultry leg meat (8), a knee joint (9) and the poultry's thighs (3) with the thighs (3'), and which apparatus (1) comprises a cutter (10) for cutting off the poultry's legs (6) and a scraper (11) for scraping off the poultry's leg meat (2) from the thighs (3 '), wherein the scraper (11) of the apparatus (1) is configured to clamp the poultry's legs (6) near the poultry's knee joint (9) and to fix the poultry's knee joint (9) in place, and the cutter (10) is configured to cut a first knife on the leg of the poultry when the scraper (11) grips the leg of the poultry, wherein the cutter (10) is configured to provide the first knife adjacent to the scraper (11) and below the knee joint (9) at the level of the joint of the femur (3 ') closest to the knee joint (9) so as to sever the tendon connecting the meat (2) and the femur (3').

2. An apparatus, wherein the apparatus is equipped with a peeler (12).

3. An apparatus wherein the peeler (12) is arranged to start operation after the cutter (10) has cut a first knife over the poultry leg (6).

4. Device, wherein the scraper (11) has at least two scraping modes, including a first scraping mode and a second scraping mode, wherein the first scraping mode is arranged to be performed on the femur (3 ') below the knee joint (9), and the initial scraping mode extends over a predetermined part of the poultry's leg below the knee joint (9), which predetermined part is at a distance from the hip joint (13) of the femur (3 ').

5. An apparatus wherein the initial scraping mode is set to start from a first cutting position.

6. An apparatus wherein the scraper (11) is arranged to perform an initial scraping mode after releasing the gripping mode on the poultry's legs (6).

7. An apparatus, wherein the cutter (10) is arranged to cut a second knife on the leg (6) of the poultry near the scraper (11) at a predetermined distance from the knee joint (9).

8. Device, wherein the cutter (10) is arranged to cut a second knife after the initial scraping pattern by the scraper (11) has been completed, wherein the second knife is cut after the initial scraping pattern has been completed on a predetermined part of the poultry leg in the vicinity of the scraper (11) which has reached a final position further away from the hip joint (13) of the femur (3').

9. An apparatus wherein a second shaving mode of the blade (11) is arranged to be operable after the first shaving mode.

10. An apparatus, wherein the scraper (11) is arranged to scrape the meat (2) over the entire length of the femur (3') in a second scraping mode.

11. An apparatus wherein the second scraping mode of the scraper (11) is activated after the cutter (10) has cut a second knife on the poultry leg (6).

12. An apparatus wherein the shaver (11) is arranged to be moved to a position near the knee joint (9) before the shaver (11) performs the second shaving mode.

13. An apparatus, wherein the cutter (10) or another knife (14) of the apparatus is arranged to cut meat (2) scraped from the femur (3').

14. Method for obtaining meat from the thighs (3) of poultry in a processing line (4), wherein the poultry is conveyed while their legs (6) hang on ankles (7), each of said poultry legs (6) comprising a lower poultry leg meat (8), a knee joint (9) and the thighs (3) of the poultry with the thighs (3 '), the method comprising the steps of cutting the poultry legs (6) and skiving the poultry meat (2) from the thighs (3 ') with a scraper (11), wherein the poultry legs (6) are clamped with the scraper in the vicinity of their knee joint (9) to fix the knee joint (9) in position, and wherein the poultry legs (6) are clamped in position with a first knife over the poultry legs (6) which is cut below the knee joint (9) at the level of the thighs (3 ') on the side of the knee joint (9), thereby cutting the tendon connecting the meat (2) and the femur (3').

15. A method wherein the poultry thighs (3) are skinned.

16. A method wherein the skinning operation is performed after cutting a knife on the poultry leg (6) below the knee joint (9) at the level of the joint of the femur (3') located on the side of the knee joint (9).

17. A method, wherein an initial scraping pattern is performed on the femur (3 ') below the knee joint (9), which initial scraping pattern extends over a predetermined part of the thigh (3) of the poultry below the knee joint (9), which predetermined part is kept at a distance from the hip joint (13) of the femur (3').

18. A method wherein the second knife cutting the leg (6) of the poultry at a predetermined distance from the knee joint (9) is located at a greater distance from the knee joint (9) than the first knife.

19. A method wherein the second knife is cut after the initial scraping mode is completed.

20. A method, wherein said thigh meat is scraped off over the entire length of the femur (3') during the second scraping mode.

21. A method wherein the second scraping mode is activated after the second knife has been cut on the poultry's leg (6).

22. A method, wherein the scraped meat (2) is cut from the femur (3') after completion of the second scraping mode.

Claims

1. An apparatus (1) for taking meat (2) from poultry's thighs (3) in a processing line (4), the processing line (4) being equipped with supports (5) for the poultry's legs (6), characterized in that each support (5) is arranged to convey the poultry's legs (6) suspended by means of ankles (7), the poultry's legs (6) comprising a lower poultry leg meat (8), a knee joint (9) and the poultry's thighs (3) with their thighs (3 '), and that the apparatus (1) comprises a cutter (10) for cutting off the poultry's legs (6) and a scraper (11) for scraping off the poultry leg meat (2) from the thighs (3 '), the scraper (11) of the apparatus (1) being configured to clamp the poultry's legs (6) near the knee joint (9) and to fix the knee joint (9) in place, and the cutter (10) is configured to cut a first knife over the poultry leg when the scraper (11) grips the poultry leg (6), the cutter (10) being configured to provide a first knife adjacent to the scraper (11) and below the knee joint (9) at the level of the joint of the thigh bone (3 ') closest to the knee joint (9) to cut the tendon connecting the meat (2) and the thigh bone (3'), the scraper (11) having at least two scraping modes, including a first scraping mode and a second scraping mode, wherein the first scraping mode is configured to perform an initial scraping mode over the thigh bone (3 ') below the knee joint (9) extending over a predetermined portion of the poultry leg below the knee joint (9) at a distance from the hip joint (13) of the thigh bone (3'), the scraper blade (11) is arranged to perform the initial scraping mode after releasing the gripping mode on the poultry leg (6).

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device is provided with a peeler (12).

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the peeler (12) is arranged to start operating after the cutter (10) has cut a first knife over the poultry leg (6).

4. Apparatus according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the cutter (10) is arranged to cut a second knife on the poultry leg (6) near the scraper (11) at a predetermined distance from the knee joint (9).

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the cutter (10) is arranged to cut a second knife at the completion of the initial scraping pattern by the scraper (11), wherein the second knife is cut near the scraper (11) which reaches a final position further from the hip joint (13) of the femur (3') after the completion of the initial scraping pattern on the predetermined part of the poultry thigh.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second shaving mode is set after the first shaving mode and is operable.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the scraper (11) is arranged to scrape the meat (2) in the second scraping mode over the entire length of the femur (3').

8. Device according to any of claims 6-7, characterized in that the scraper (11) is arranged to be moved to a position near the knee joint (9) before the scraper (11) performs the second scraping mode.

9. Method for obtaining meat from poultry's thighs (3) in a processing line (4), characterized in that it is conveyed while poultry's legs (6) are suspended by means of ankles (7), each of said poultry 'legs (6) comprising a lower poultry leg meat (8), a knee joint (9) and a poultry's thigh (3) with a thigh bone (3 '), the method comprising the steps of cutting said poultry's legs (6) and scraping the poultry's meat (2) from said thigh bone (3') with a scraper (11), clamping said poultry's legs (6) with said scraper near their knee joint (9) to fix said knee joint (9) in position, and cutting a first knife over said poultry's legs (6) when said poultry 'legs (6) are clamped in position, this knife being cut below the knee joint (9) at the level of the thigh bone (3') on the side of said knee joint (9), thereby severing the tendons connecting the meat (2) and the thigh bone (3 '), wherein an initial scraping mode is performed on the thigh bone (3 ') below the knee joint (9), which initial scraping mode extends over a predetermined portion of the poultry thigh (3) below the knee joint (9), which predetermined portion is at a distance from the hip joint (13) of the thigh bone (3 '), which initial scraping mode is performed after releasing the grip mode on the poultry leg (6).

10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the poultry thighs (3) are skinned.

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that the skinning operation is completed after cutting a knife on the poultry leg below the knee joint (9) at the level of the joint of the femur (3') located on the side of the knee joint (9).

12. Method according to any of claims 9-11, characterized in that the second knife cutting the poultry leg (6) at a predetermined distance from the knee joint (9) is at a greater distance from the knee joint (9) than the first knife.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the second knife is cut after the initial scraping mode is completed.

14. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the meat (2) is scraped off over the entire length of the femur (3') during a second scraping mode.

15. Method according to claim 14, characterized in that the second scraping mode is activated after cutting a second knife on the poultry leg (6).